ENTRENAMIENTO EN ESTRATEGIAS DE APRENDIZAJE

Not surprisingly, division of paid work and non-paid domestic work among the Japanese single-earner household was gendered. The division was culturally avail- able for the people to do gender or to determine as “gendered practices”. The gendered division was taken for granted, and both male and female married partic- ipants viewed that home was the site where wife took a dominant role. Few male participants expressed their thoughts about household activities, and described:

My wife takes care of all household work. (Ie no koto ha okusan ga subete yattekureteiru.) (A 36 year-old married Japanese man)

All one left to my wife’s own choice. (Subete tsuma ni makaseteiru.) (A 36-year old Japanese married man).

The public image of housewives in Japan has changed along with socio-economic and political climates. In the 1970s, the household with a male breadwinner and a full- time housewife was considered as the average Japanese family. At the same time, the normalisation of housewives was criticised by women’s liberation movement. In the late 1980s, being housewives became a symbol of affluent family which have enough economic powers to feed non-working wife and children (Ueno, 1994). According the recent nationwide survey of young people aged between 15 and 39 (Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, 2013), more number of women (34.2%) than men (19.3%) hoped for the household with a full-time housewife. Being housewives became an ideal which not everyone can choose to become.

A 27 year-old Japanese woman who was a mother of two children did most of housework and child rearing by herself.

It is impossible to ask my husband to help housework and child rearing on his workday, because he comes back home late. He does not do any housework except cleaning and playing with children on the weekend. He is good at cleaning and I like cooking. Looking after children on the weekend is helpful enough.

She viewed the current division of labours as a decent lifestyle of married woman with young children. She reflected her singlehood that she tried to do all she wanted to do (i.e. work and hobbies), and said to me, “Such a lifestyle uses up all energies for myself, but not for others.” She emphasised her life at the household level rather than individual one, and described her role as an engine of the household.

Now I wake up early in the morning, and I do not oversleep any more. If I am late, everyone will be late. I got a sense of responsibility (to

support other family members). I believe I need to stay healthy and energetic to be able to support family. Compared to the past, I have a much healthier lifestyle.

She compared this with her lifestyle before her marriage which she played multiple roles, and she understood that the current lifestyle is beneficial for both well-being and physical health of her family and herself, and expressed her joy to invest her body and mind into her family.

On the contrary, the domestic work is not always ‘a static gendering practice’ among those who are in the dual or multiple-earner household. It is rather a dynamic practice which are performed by those who have less time commitments to paid work. A 37 year-old Australian woman was a full-time preschool teacher and recently reduced her working hours to part-time (four days per week) to help with her eight year-old daughter’s school work.

My housework and my husband’s work is getting busier. I spend more time for cooking and other housework. I make jelly and cakes as treats for my daughter. From Tuesday to Friday, she goes to aftercare. They have crafts and homework clubs. She does swimming and gymnastics. On Monday afternoon, she does Kumon tutoring. It started easy and getting harder....

Time commitments for children are varied by ages of children. In her case, she experienced more time constraints when her daughter became older and started to participant in a range of activities. In addition, her husband worked long hour at a medical company: leaving home at 7:00am and coming back home around 7:00- 8:00pm. So, she decided to reduce her working hours to manage all housework, supports for her daughter, and her paid work.

A 34 year-old Australian man was a postgraduate student and father of two children. He rotated housework with his wife depending on their work loads and working hours.

We do not have to negotiate (who do which housework). Now she has a demanding job and works quite long hours. I tend to do most of housework and look after the children. In the past, I worked more and she looked after the children.

He reported that he did most of housework in the morning while he was having breakfast, because his work schedule as a postgraduate student was more flexible than his wife who was working as a high-rank public servant. He said, “This is the most common reason I have breakfast alone.” He ate breakfast in the kitchen while cleaning and making lunch for his children.

8.3. PRACTISING GENDER IN COMMENSALITY 153